The present invention relates to systems and methods for matching and maintaining correlation between a parent and an infant within an environment such as a hospital.
The present invention aids in assuring that an infant or infants born to a mother remain matched with their mother when the mother and infant(s) leave the hospital or when the infant or infant and mother are separated and then are properly re-matched in the hospital.
The possible abduction of an infant or child from medical facilities, such as hospitals, other medical structures, temporary housing and other restricted areas has created a significant demand for monitoring systems which signal any unwarranted movement of the infant or child from the assigned environment or area. The standard method used heretofore, such as visitor passes, monitoring cameras, and standard door monitors have not provided the necessary protection against such unwarranted movement of personnel, and particularly an infant or child, from an assigned or restricted area. Hospitals and like facilities are thus continuously looking for improved systems which will essentially prevent unwarranted movement and abduction of an infant or child, thereby maintaining a very safe and secure environment for the infants and other such personnel. The present invention has been particularly developed in relation to an infant and a parent and is therefore described with reference thereto. The systems and methods may, of course, be applied to other persons or objects and even other applications (e.g., nursing homes, etc.).
Systems have been proposed in which an alarming band unit is connected to the monitored child. The restricted area includes strategically located receivers throughout the restricted area. The receivers are responsive to the output of the alarming band unit and coupled to one or more controllers. The alarming band unit includes a transmitter unit for establishing a control signal when the band unit is moved adjacent to an alarm receiver. The band alarming unit is constructed such that any tampering or removal of the alarming band unit also generates a wider area alarm signal. The local area receivers are small units, which are suitably mounted adjacent to the strategic location, such as a door, hall, elevator, stairway, or the like, and are generally interconnected to an alarm control unit. The receivers are generally mounted to a wall, ceiling, or other similar locations and are hard wired to a controller unit. The latter, in turn, is generally mounted in the restricted area and coupled to alarm or alert units mounted for signaling the staff, such as the nursing staff and security personnel as well as providing certain interlocks to restrict movement of the monitored child. Generally, if the alarming band unit is compromised in any way, the transmitter sends the signal to additional, wide area receivers and/or detects the loss of the signal and will immediately generate an appropriate response, which may be an alarm transmission to other remote locations, and the like.
Various systems have been suggested. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,040, to Weaver, discloses a personal locator adapted to be mounted to the wrist or leg of the infant or any other monitored person. The locator consists of a small transmitter having an attachment band integrally secured to the transmitter housing, which preferably has the appearance of a wristwatch or the like. The integrally connected band is adapted to be wrapped about the arm and then secured within an opening within the opposite side of the transmitter housing. The band itself has embedded therein conductors which are interconnected to the transmitter at the integral connection and also through a releasable connector at the opposite strap connector which receives the free end of the attachment strap. The transmitter generates a unique identification code information or the like, which is transmitted with sufficient power to cover the restricted area in which receivers are mounted directly or as a result of selected movement within an area.
Some prior art systems use alternate systems of monitoring. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,790, to Radomsky, uses both infrared (IR) and radio frequency (RF) for monitoring purposes. As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,790, a dual-mode infrared/radio frequency (IR/RF) transmitter is secured within a wristband worn by the mother and within an ankle and/or wristband worn by the infant. In a matching mode of operation, IR signals are received by infrared receivers located within various rooms of a hospital to precisely and automatically determine by proximity that mother and infant are correctly united. In a presence detecting mode, RF signals from the infant's badge are detected by RF receivers located throughout the maternity ward of the hospital or throughout the hospital generally. In a security mode, RF receivers located proximate exits of either of the maternity ward and/or the hospital detect RF signals from the ankle and provide a signal to generate an alarm.
Some systems use a transponder system wherein a non-transmitting individual personalized unit is secured to the person. The unit transmits a coded signal upon being interrogated by a remote detector or a remote monitoring unit. Alternatively, a portable self-contained transmitting and receiving device is worn by the personnel, and when it enters into a selected area, it activates a control unit to effect an alarm condition. Under an alarm condition, an audible or visual signal may be generated at one or more locations. In addition, various securing action may be taken, such as locking of a door, deactivating of an elevator system, providing notifications at local and remote stations, as well as any other option, which may be desired to be incorporated into a system to secure the locations as well as protect the personnel.
Authorized personnel will normally have deactivation systems which permit them to undertake normal personnel servicing and the like. In addition, it is highly desirable to prevent tampering with the system, particularly the child attached unit and the receiver units. Thus, any unauthorized attempt to remove the unit from the person being monitored, or tampering therewith in such a manner as to defeat the security system, must automatically create an alarm or an alert condition for appropriate monitoring and action.
Although various systems presently exist in personal monitoring systems, many of which are particularly directed to the monitoring of movement of infants and children in hospitals and other like areas or facilities, there is a continuing need for reliable security systems which are highly cost effective. Both the monitor unit attached to the person as well as the monitoring sensors must be secure and effective under essentially all positioning and movements of the monitored person. Furthermore, the monitoring systems need to be adaptable to the specific person so that the systems can be better utilized to protect the individual.
U.S. Patent No. 5,793,290 to Eagleson, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, was such a design that efficiently monitors children and infants in hospitals and other like areas or facilities. In Eagleson, a security system for monitoring movement of persons in a secured area including set openings which includes area and opening monitors, tag units and an alarm system is disclosed. The tag unit has special end clamp members that securely clamp an attachment strap to a housing for attaching the unit to a person. Tampering with the connection creates an alarm state. The tag unit includes a dual transmitter continuously transmitting very low frequency (VLF) signal and transmitting a very high frequency (VHF or UHF) signal only if the tag unit is tampered with. The opening monitor includes VLF receivers responsive to a VLF signal and transmitting an alarm signal to an opening alarm system to prevent unauthorized exit. Authorized personnel have a deactivation unit for timed receiver disabling for moving the person through the opening. The UHF transmitter is activated upon unauthorized tampering with the attached tag. A bank response alarm includes a plurality of distributed VHF or UHF receivers that responds to the VHF or UHF signal of any tag unit. A deactivation control is provided to authorized personnel to permit attachment and removal of the tag unit. Other interlocks may be provided including visual and/or audible alarms, tag identification and, data recording.
Accordingly, there is a need for a mother/infant tag system which when the mother and infant are matched provides both visual and audible indications of a match. Further, there is a need for a mother/infant matching system in which the visual indication of a mother/infant match is provided on a constant basis while the mother and infant remain matched. Further, there is a need for a mother and infant matching system in which the tag, after being removed from the patient, erases itself and returns to a hibernated state for later reuse. There is a need for a mother and infant matching system in which mother and infant tags automatically reactivate when the tags are moved a predetermined distance from each for more than a predetermined amount of time. Further still, there is a need for a mother/infant matching system in which a mother may be matched with multiple infants in the case of multiple births. Yet further still, there is a need for a mother and infant matching system in which the mother may be able to manually perform a match.
It would be desirable to provide a system and/or method that provides one or more of these or other advantageous features. Other features and advantages will be made apparent from the present specification. The teachings disclosed extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the aforementioned needs.